This invention relates to improved prophylactic and contraceptive methods and apparatus, and more particularly relates to a condom-like device designed for females.
It is well-known that many devices and techniques have been proposed and used to prevent conception and/or venereal disease. Although most such devices and techniques are regarded as generally effective for their intended purpose, they are also commonly regarded as having one or more disadvantages which tend to inhibit their usage.
In particular, the so-called condom is commonly believed to give almost completely reliable protection against both conception and venereal disease. However, most sheath-type condoms and the like are also commonly regarded as an inconvenience, and also as a limitation on the degree of tactile stimulus being sought by the user.
The so-called diaphragm or cervical cap is a device which is also commonly believed to provide almost equally effective protection against conception without the accompanying disadvantage of limiting the degree of tactile stimulus of either partner. However, the diaphragm is also considered an inconvenience at best and, depending upon its particular type and design, is regarded by many users as requiring expertise to achieve both installation and removal. Another disadvantage is that the effectiveness of a diaphragm in preventing conception is also widely believed to depend on its being accurately sized within close dimensional tolerances. Furthermore, the diaphragm is effective only insofar as contraception is concerned.
Some of the foregoing disadvantages are a matter of perception only, and may eventually be largely dispelled by increasingly widespread dissemination of more accurate information regarding the use and function of such devices. Other such disadvantages as those hereinbefore mentioned, however, are clearly based on reality, and it is these real disadvantages which will tend to retard and discourage their usage irrespective of the extent to which increased education may dispel reluctance because of perceived but unreal limitations and disadvantages.
As an example of those perceived disadvantages having insufficient basis in fact, it is now established that installation and removal of most types of diaphragms does not require any special expertise or training. Instead, it is now well known and increasingly accepted that the technique of installing and removing most types of diaphragms can be readily and easily acquired by almost any user with only a minimum of instruction and experimentation. As to the need to size a diaphragm within precise dimensional limits, it is now known that the cervix tends to expand and contract within relatively broad dimensional limits, and that a cervical cap which has been precisely fitted in a clinic or the like will therefore almost certainly be improperly sized to the wearer at a later time when the device is expected to perform its intended function.
In other words, a cervical cap is preferably sized to accommodate expansion of the cervix in response to stimulation of the user. Therefore, the need to conform to precise dimensional limits at the time of fitting is not merely unnecessary but may, of itself, cause discomfort and therefore diminution of satisfaction with the device at the very time when it is intended to perform its intended function. Finally, there can be no serious dispute that, irrespective of what other benefits which may be gained from a diaphragm or cervical cap, such a device affords substantially no protection whatsoever as to venereal or other related communicable disease.
On the other hand, it is beyond serious dispute that a condom which is designed to be worn only at the time of entry is a real inconvenience to the user. Similarly, a sheath-type condom which is designed to fit relatively snugly in order to provide maximum protection, also clearly limits the tactile stimulation desired by the user and therefore constitutes a very real inhibition to the purposes of the wearer.
These and other disadvantages of the various types of prophylactics and contraceptive devices of the prior art are overcome or substantially reduced with the present invention, however, and improved prophylactic and contraceptive methods and devices are herewith provided which can be conveniently employed without the need for special skills or instruction, and which afford reliable and complete protection against both conception and venereal disease without significant limitation as to tactile stimulus and the like.